Cinema Tropical has compiled a list of the Top Ten Latin American Films of the Decade (2000-2009), based on a survey of distinguished critics, scholars and film professionals based in the New York City area.

This first-ever survey of its kind was culled from 35 prominent local voices in film whose work has been devoted to the promotion and dissemination of Latin American cinema in New York and the United States.

In all, 124 films representing 14 Latin American countries were nominated for the distinction of being Best of the Decade, demonstrating the great quality and diversity of films from the region.

THE SURVEY

32 professionals from the New York area participated in this first-ever survey. They include film critics, bloggers, festival programmers, distributors, and academics. They were invited to participate because their work has demonstrated a keen knowledge of Latin American cinema and/or because they have been active in promoting and disseminating it in the United States. The survey itself was created with the goal of increasing awareness of Latin American film within the U.S. movie-going public and the film community as a whole.

The 32 participants were simply asked to provide their favorite top-ten list of Latin American films (those produced in a Latin American country and helmed by a Latin American director) released either commercially or via film festivals between 2000-2009. The ballots were then tabulated according to the following point system: The #1 pick received 10 points, the #2 received 9 points, and so on until reaching the #10 pick which was assigned a point value of 1. In total, 55 points were spread among the 10 films in each ballot.

Some participants chose not to rank their ballots. In those cases, the 55 total points were divided evenly among the ten selections. Each received a point value of 5.5.

This survey was created and compiled by filmmaker and blogger Mario Díaz [http://diazfilm.blogspot.com/], and Cinema Tropical Co-Founding Director Carlos Gutiérrez.

INDIVIDUAL SELECTIONS

Click here to see all of the individual selections of the survey's participants (pdf format)

Cinema Tropical's programs are made possible with the support of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support ofGovernor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. They are also supported, in part, by public funds from theNew York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the National Endowments for the Arts